“He is pitching like we expected him to,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of rookie Walker Buehler. “But I’m not sure that expectation was in 2018. … Assuming we get to October, I think he’ll be a big part of our success.” (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES — In Walker Buehler, the Dodgers knew they had something … what’s a good word for it?

“He’s special,” Rangers left-hander and fellow Vanderbilt product Mike Minor said after Buehler’s recent start in Texas, the only time in the last month the rookie right-hander gave up more than one run in an outing. “He’s got special stuff.”

“One of the most special talents I’ve seen,” said Dodgers director of player development Brandon Gomes, a big-leaguer for five seasons before joining the Dodgers’ organization two years ago. “I don’t have the longest history in player development. But I can’t think of anyone I played with who had any more talent.”

None of this surprises the Dodgers. How quickly Buehler has harnessed that talent has.

“We have a front-line rotation piece now. We had hoped for that in the spring,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When it was going to happen, we didn’t know. But obviously you see the makeup and you see the stuff and you hope at the end of this year he was going to be that guy.”

“He is pitching like we expected him to,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “But I’m not sure that expectation was in 2018.”

It was certainly Buehler’s expectation. Though he tempers his answer when asked about those expectations, the 24-year-old right-hander’s self-confidence is as big as his talent – and evident to his teammates, one of whom (fellow rookie Caleb Ferguson) smiles from two lockers away when Buehler is asked about it.

“I’m very confident about me and what I do,” Buehler acknowledged as Ferguson smirked into his locker.

That confidence was in no way dented by Buehler’s poor performance (in a relief role) as a September call-up a year ago. He had a 7.71 ERA in 9-1/3 innings as a reliever and walked away with the unspoken conviction that even major-league hitters had no right treating him like that.

“When I got called up, we talked about it – there’s no bad outcome in this,” Buehler said in retrospect. “No matter how I throw, we’re up 15 games in the division. We were going to clinch. We were going to go to the playoffs. They were going to do what they did last year. So it’s almost like I was just here to learn, for me. If something great would have come out of it and I would have thrown my way on to the playoff roster, that would have been great. But I wasn’t ready for that and I wasn’t good enough. So there’s a point where you say, ‘At least I know what it is. I’ve been there. Now I’ve got to learn to be better.’

“When you show up at spring training and your last game was in the big leagues, you prepare to be in the big leagues. It’s a different kind of focus.”

Friedman acknowledges that the roots of Buehler’s 2018 success are in the disappointment of last September.

“Worst-case is he will gain meaningful experience that will help him in 2018,” Friedman said. “We just didn’t appreciate how much it would.”

It has not been a smooth ride. Buehler started the season in Triple-A then pitched six innings in a combined no-hitter in just his third big-league start. He has pitched with the awareness that the Dodgers could cite innings limits and pitch-count restrictions and take the ball from him at any time. He pitched with a microfracture in a rib then went more than a month between starts while recovering.

And yet, he has emerged as the Dodgers’ second-best starter behind left-hander Clayton Kershaw, adapting to the major leagues and expanding his repertoire on the fly. Over his past seven starts, Buehler has allowed seven runs in 42-2/3 innings (a 1.48 ERA), striking out 51 and holding opposing hitters to a .168 average and .497 OPS.

“There’s just clarity and conviction,” Roberts said. “When he gets the ball now, there is 100 percent conviction that is the right pitch and that pitch is able to get major-league hitters out.

“Also, his fastball command has been so consistent. For him and most pitchers, everything stems off of that. Last year, the delivery, the fastball would leak back and there would be mistakes. Now when he gets behind, he can still execute a fastball to get himself back into a count. … It’s a special fastball with special command.”

There’s that word again.

Friedman says Buehler is “right up there” with any young pitcher he has seen for how quickly he has ascended the major-league learning curve.

“It’s pitch execution but also awareness of what he’s trying to do against certain hitters, (being) just a little bit more adaptable in that approach,” Friedman said. “As you’re coming through the minor leagues you don’t really have to be. It’s part of the learning experience for every young pitcher. He’s really bright, which helps. He’s just kind of gotten to it and taken to it as fast as you could possibly hope for.”

Part of Buehler’s willingness to adapt has involved making his cut fastball a larger part of his pitch mix and also changing the grip on his curveball, minimizing the use of a “spike” knuckle curve grip in favor of a more conventional curveball grip that produces a higher spin rate.

“I think you have to, at least early, believe you’re good enough to be here. Then you have to be taught what you can and can’t do,” Buehler said.

“There are certain things and certain situations that you’re never going to be able to explain it, but you can see it. ‘This guy is doing this. He feels comfortable hitting this pitch of mine. How can I navigate this at-bat without giving him that pitch?’”

With 22 games left in the season and a playoff spot yet to be secured, Buehler sits right behind Kershaw in the Dodgers’ rotation – a spot he could also occupy in a postseason rotation despite his rookie status.

“Assuming we get to October, I think he’ll be a big part of our success,” Friedman said.

“He’s ready to pitch in a playoff game. Absolutely,” Roberts said, adding he has “100 percent” confidence in handing the ball to Buehler.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.